Extension car-coupling.



T. V. BUCKWALTER.

' EXTENSION CAR COUPLlNG.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 15, 1915.

Patented May 9, 1916:

ammo o.-

EXTENSION CAR-COUPLING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 9, 1916.

Application filed July 15, 1915. Serial No. 39,957.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, TRACY V. BUCK- WALTER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Altoona, in the county of Blair and State of Pennsylvania, have invented an Extension Car-Coupling, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improved means for coupling cars to facilitate rounding short radius curves and its characteristic construction effects the desideratum of transmitting by simple means both tension and. compression between standard car couplers directly through the auxiliary coupler stem without material stress upon extension heads or parts other than the stems, which are adapted to the work. The improvements also effect the desideratum of connecting the auxiliary coupler stems closer to the bearings engaging the stems of the main couplers to the cars and so that the arcs of oscillation of the ends of the auxiliary coupler bars or stems with the main coupler heads are reduced, thus permitting the use of shorter bars with at tending advantages.

The characteristic features and functions of the improvements are fully disclosed in the following description and the accompanying drawings in illustration thereof.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of car ends connected by an extension coupler embodying my improvements; Fig. 2 is a top plan view on an enlarged scale of the detached extension coupler; Fig. 3 is a part sectional side elevation of the construction shown in Fig. 2; and Fig. 4 is a plan view illustrating a standard car coupler engaged by an auxiliary head of my extension coupler.

The drawings illustrate the car ends 1 provided with standard couplers comprising stems 2 having heads 3 with knuckles 4 pivoted thereon; the stems being connected with the cars by usual connections including the bearings 2.

In the form of my improvements shown in the drawings, a stem or bar 5 is provided with the end pins 6 on which are journaled bearings 7 of heads 8, which provide shoes adapted to fit on the knuckles 4 in engagement with the heads 3, the shoes having ribs 9 extending radially from the bearings 7 and bearing on the respective knuckles 4 to support the extension coupler.

In the form of the invention illustrated, the pins or journals 6 are forged integrally with the stem 5, relative to the center line of which they are or may be oifset, and the bearings 7 are engaged on the pins by waslr ers 10 which are held in place in relation to the pins by bolts 11 set therein.

The cars 1 are readily coupled automatically by the engagement of the properly positioned heads 8 with the open knuckles 4, the stems or bars 5 acting through the heads 8 on the knuckles 4 with whichthey are first engaged, which they turn to the closed or locked positions, and which hold them seated in the heads 3, with the parts 6 and 7 between the heads 3 and knuckles 4 and the ribs 9 supported on the knuckles. The heads 8 may also be dropped into place, when properly positioned, in the heads 3 and 011 the knuckles 4.

As the journals 6 on the ends of the bars 5 lie within the knuckles 4, comparatively close to the bearings 2, these journals and the ends of the bars move through shorter arcs when the heads 3 are moved laterally or oscillated by transverse forces, as in rounding curves, with the resulting advantage of shortening the required lengths of the bars and reducing the angularity of the bars positions in such operations.

The offset journals 6 throw the ends of the bars away from the knuckle pins 4, toward the center lines of the stems 2, throwing such bars away from projecting heads of pins 4 of certain types of couplers and increasing the angle of engagement of the bars with such projections.

It will be understood that in the coupled relation of the parts, the stresses transmitted between the standard couplers through the auxiliary coupler is carried by the bar 5 with the pins 6 forged thereon (in the preferred construction), the pins transmitting the stress whether tension or compression, to the standard couplers by compression communicated through the bearings 7, without stress upon the auxiliary heads proper.

Having described my invention, I claim:

I. The combination with' a car coupler having a head with a knuckle thereon, of an auxiliary head adapted to engage said head with the knuckle thereon, and a bar pivotally connected with said auxiliary head between said head first named and the knuckle thereon.

2. The combination with a pair of car couplers each comprising a head with a knuckle thereon, of auxiliary heads adapted to engage said heads with the knuckles thereon, and a bar pivotally connected with said auxiliary heads between the respective heads first named and the knuckles thereon.

S. The combination with a car coupler having a head with a knuckle thereon, of an auxiliary head having a bearing engaged between said head first named and the knuckle thereon, and a bar journaled in said bearing, whereby tensile and compressive tresses in said bar are transmitted by compression through said bearing.

4:. The combination with a car coupler having a head with a knuckle thereon, of an auxiliary coupler having a head adapted to said head with the knuckle and a member pivotally connected to said auxiliary head between said head first named and the knuckle thereon, said auxiliary head having means for supporting it on said knuckle.

5. The combination with a coupler having a head with a knuckle thereon, of an auxiliary coupler having a head adapted to be seated within said head and on said knuckle, said head second named having a member disposed between and in engagement with said head first named and its closed knuckle, a bar, and a pin 'pivotally connecting said bar and member.

6. The combination with a car having a couplerfixed thereto, of an auxiliary coupler comprising a stem and a head pivotally connected to said stem and engaged to said head first named so as to be subject to compression alone.

7. The combination of a pair of cars having couplers fixed thereto, and an auxiliary coupler comprising a stem and auxiliary heads pivotally connected to said stem, said auxiliary heads being fixed to said heads first named so that both tension and compression in said stem produces compression in said auxiliary heads.

8. The combination with a car coupler having a head with a knuckle thereon, of an auxiliary head in the form of a shoe embracing said knuckle, said auxiliary head having means for holding it on said knuckle and an open end opposite thereto, and a stem pivotally connected to said auxiliary head he tween said head first named and the knuckle thereon.

9. The combination with a car coupler having a head, of an auxiliary head adapted for engaging said head first named, a bar, and means offset relative to said bar whereby it is pivotally connected to said auxiliary head.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my name this 12th day of July, 1915.

TRACY V. BUCIGVALTER.

Gopiesof this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 1,181,989, granted May 9, 1916,

upon the application of Tracy V. Buckwalter, of Altoona, Pennsylvania, for an improvement in "Extension Car-Couplings, an error appears in the printed specification requiring correction as follows: Page 2, line 11, claim 3, for the Word tresses read stresses; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the sarne may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Oflice.

Signed and sealed this 30th day of May, A. D., 1916.

[SEAL] J. T. NEWTON,

Acting Commissioner f Patents. 

